Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. Invests $253,000 in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,290 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Finally, Maxim Group decreased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $28.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of -28.95 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.66. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.41 and a 12-month high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

Viking Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD.